Excerpted from: [www.naturalnews.com]

USDA threatens $60,000 fine, federal raid against woman in possession of lemon tree

Monday, October 03, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The US government's assault against innocent American citizens
continues to get more aggressive and just plain strange, with new reports of
harassment against honest owners of ordinary lemon trees. Health Freedom
Alliance (HFA) reports that officials from the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) are now spying on people whom they suspect are in possession of ordinary
lemon trees, and threatening them with excessive fines and even federal raids if
they refuse to surrender the plants on demand.

Several years ago, Bridget Donovan, who has now been dubbed "The Lemon Tree
Lady," purchased a Meyer lemon tree from meyerlemontree.com. A resident of
Wisconsin, Donovan purchased the tree legally and in full accordance with all
federal and state laws regulating citrus transport, and had lovingly cultivated
and cared for her citrus plant for nearly three years.

Then, out of nowhere, Donovan received an unexpected letter from the USDA
informing her that government officials were going to come and seize her tree
and destroy it -- and that she was not going to be compensated for her loss. The
letter also threatened that if Donovan was found to be in possession of
"regulated citrus" again, she could be fined up to $60,000.

Why has the USDA been targeting lemon tree owners? The answer is unclear, other
than that they are a supposed threat to the citrus industry. And a USDA official
admitted to Donovan that the agency has been spying on those suspected of owning
lemon trees, and targeting all found to be in possession with threats of fines
and raids if they failed to give them up -- and the agency has been doing this
without a valid warrant.

"I felt utterly violated, angry, and upset," Donovan is quoted as saying by HFA.
"I pay my taxes, I obey the law, and this is how I was treated? I did nothing
wrong. I would expect these actions toward someone running a drug house,
not someone who owned a lemon tree."

(Rockman, can't find any of the pics with KR and his beloved
lemon trees. Can you help?)

I can’t get enough... citrus action

By PETE SAMSON, US Editor

Published The Sun: 15 May 2010

VETERAN rocker KEITH RICHARDS has swapped vodka... for LEMONS.

The ROLLING STONES guitarist has grown a tree after planting pips from a lemon
he bought in a supermarket.

Now, he told a US TV chat show, it has produced citrus fruit "bigger than grapefruits".

And the former wildman — who gave up his favourite tipple vodka when he quit
booze at the start of the year — even GERMINATED the tree's flowers by hand.

Keef told chat show host JIMMY FALLON: "Somebody told me that in the winter,
when the flowers come up, you've got to germinate them.

"So I end up with a little paintbrush, going round every flower. I wanted JOHN
BELUSHI's bee outfit."

He explained: "I had nothing else to do — so what do you do when you've got
nothing to do?"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-10-04 10:01 by nocomment.

what a bunch of sour pusses!

Can't believe Keef has nothing else to do. If he's bored maybe he could learn how to play the guitar or something, ha-ha.

Quote
nocomment
... we are a team of
six stones/superheavy fans (because no way this much literary and artistic
brilliance could emerge from just one) ...

Thanks for this outstanding example of your agglomerated literary and artistic brilliance. I am drooling over more of that wisdom dripping from your quill.

"Don't run out of juice ... don't let the power run dry"

.....here ya go nocomment.......best I can do for ya



Keith and lemon tree at his Connecticut home with Anthony Mason 2010



ROCKMAN

thank you kindly ROCKMAN. and you nailed where we saw it too. just couldnt
remember. don't know how you do it.

.......smoke ...mirrors....and a shit load of luck ...



ROCKMAN

So Keith has definitively given up drinking? Or is it like how he 'gave up' drugs in the 80s?

Well he hasnt given up drugs, he quit heroin in 1980, had one more or less official "Dabble with H" in 1997, "gave up" coke when Disney inc forced him to say so (dont think he has given up coke). I do think he has cut down on drinking simply because many hard drinkers do that when they get older. Same with coke. I dont thiknk he has to get high or drunk, but he needs drinks and some drugs to function.

Quote
Redhotcarpet
Well he hasnt given up drugs, he quit heroin in 1980, had one more or less official "Dabble with H" in 1997, "gave up" coke when Disney inc forced him to say so (dont think he has given up coke). I do think he has cut down on drinking simply because many hard drinkers do that when they get older. Same with coke. I dont thiknk he has to get high or drunk, but he needs drinks and some drugs to function.

When he was promoting his book and on recent events he looks very good and more healthy and sober than couple years ago.

I think he has said in some interview that he can't do coke anymore because of the head injury (it would kill him).
He hasn't given up on drinking, but probably has cut it down quite a bit as you said.

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Two possible reasons why "they" might not like people to grow Meyer lemons ...

1) it used to be the carrier of a virus deadly to lemons in general - but that was years ago, and there is now a virus-free version - which brings us to reason 2

2) The new clone has probably got a Plant Patent, making privately-owned ones some kind of vegetable bootleg...

[en.wikipedia.org]

But in any case the reaction seems to be overkill.

Wouldn't it be odd if Keith, having got away with all sorts of illegal substances all these years, was finally done for possession of a LEMON.